When the tyrant has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, and there is nothing more to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader. Plato on war
A democracy which makes or even effectively prepares for modern, scientific war must necessarily cease to be democratic. No country can be really well prepared for modern war unless it is governed by a tyrant, at the head of a highly trained and perfectly obedient bureaucracy. Aldous Huxley on war
If there is not the war, you don't get the great general if there is not a great occasion, you don't get a great statesman if Lincoln had lived in a time of peace, no one would have known his name. Theodore Roosevelt on war
Now, let me be clear. The path I lay out is not one paved with ever increasing government checks and cradle to grave assurance that government will always be the solution. If this election is a bidding war for who can promise the most goodies and the most benefits, I'm not your president. You have that president today. Mitt Romney on war
Only the dead have seen the end of war. Plato on war
The United States is not, and never will be, at war with Islam. Barack Obama on war
They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country. But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason. Ernest Hemingway on war
I started to make a study of the art of war and revolution and, whilst abroad, underwent a course in military training. If there was to be guerrilla warfare, I wanted to be able to stand and fight with my people and to share the hazards of war with them. Nelson Mandela on war
Germany has reduced savagery to a science, and this great war for the victorious peace of justice must go on until the German cancer is cut clean out of the world body. Theodore Roosevelt on war
Americans play to win at all times. I wouldn't give a hoot and hell for a man who lost and laughed. That's why Americans have never lost nor ever lose a war. George S. Patton on war
Diplomats are just as essential to starting a war as soldiers are for finishing it... You take diplomacy out of war, and the thing would fall flat in a week. Will Rogers on war
Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war. Donald Trump on war
Cliches about supporting the troops are designed to distract from failed policies, policies promoted by powerful special interests that benefit from war, anything to steer the discussion away from the real reasons the war in Iraq will not end anytime soon. Ron Paul on war
In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact to shatter and destroy it is not so good. Sun Tzu on war
War is the greatest plague that can afflict humanity, it destroys religion, it destroys states, it destroys families. Any scourge is preferable to it. Martin Luther on war
Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war but as an act of self-defense against a homicidal maniac. George Orwell on war
I took a speed-reading course and read War and Peace in twenty minutes. It involves Russia. Woody Allen on war
I don't oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. Barack Obama on war
Another term for preventive war is aggressive war - starting wars because someday somebody might do something to us. That is not part of the American tradition. Ron Paul on war
Take the diplomacy out of war and the thing would fall flat in a week. Will Rogers on war